Golf - Willett says American fans proved his brother right

Oct 2, 2016; Chaska, MN, USA; Danny Willett of England plays a shot from a bunker on the ninth hole during the single matches in 41st Ryder Cup Hazeltine National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

LONDON Danny Willett signed off Europe's Ryder Cup defeat with a swipe at Americans fans on Monday, saying their behaviour over the weekend had justified comments made by his brother.

Englishman Willett, the Masters champion, had distanced himself from brother Peter's blog in the run-up to the match at Minnesota's Hazeltine National which labelled some American fans "a baying mob of imbeciles".

But after a weekend of raucous support for the home side who reclaimed the trophy 17-11, rookie Willett changed his tune.

"Unfortunately some American fans showed that @P_J_Willett was in fact correct," he said on Twitter.

"Still shows that sometimes fans don't know when to call it a day...Shame really."

Willett had a forgettable Ryder Cup debut, failing to win a point and in Sunday's singles was thrashed 5&4 by Brooks Koepka.

While the majority of American fans stayed within the bounds of fairness, despite being extremely loud, some of the heckling edged over the line.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy was targetted on Saturday and asked for one fan to be removed.

"At times it went a little bit too far," he said. "But that's to be expected when you are teeing off at 7:45 in the morning, you're seeing people on the first tee with a beer and matches aren't finishing until 4:30, 5:00.

MUMBAI The lack of sting in England's bowling on Thursday raised doubts about whether the Wankhede Stadium pitch has eased up in favour of the batsmen but India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel feels the difference was due to the quality of the hosts' attack.